Fascinating Drowned City Maps

Despite the earnest declarations of Jeremy Clarkson, it really does seem that sea level rises are inevitable. So, we'd best get planning for our watery future if we're going to survive.

Designer and urban planner Jeffrey Linn has taken the first step by creating a map series depicting the new topography of major cities if the level of the sea rises significantly.

London, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, Palm Springs, Portland, San Diego, Seatle and Vancouver have all been given the treatment in his ongoing project, which can be seen at the Spatialities blog.

Linn has used public data sets on both sea level rise and urban elevation to picture new conurbations in a world of extreme rises of around 80m, or 262 feet, which could occur in thousands of years.

He explained to Gizmodo, "The maps that show what will happen within our children's or grandchildren's lifetimes is fairly well-worn territory, what I haven't seen much of are maps that take it to the end point of what is possible in a thousand or more years. I wanted to make something that hasn't been seen before, and is beautiful, detailed, and extreme."

Of course, it would be nice to think that these maps will never become a reality; something that Linn hopes will be the case. He explained, "The real damage from climate change will happen well before any of these scenarios come to pass, but if these maps help create awareness of how humans are accelerating it, then I consider that an added bonus to a fun, fascinating project."

You can buy posters of all of them here, for around £17 each - click on the images below to see each one in all its glory.